


Unofficial marriages of love and Official marriages of convenience

by SanaVenus



Series: Sana's Fanowrimo [2]
Category: Tales of Graces
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 15:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5132384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanaVenus/pseuds/SanaVenus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asbel and Richard both get their wedding anniversary wrong, with added angst from out of nowhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unofficial marriages of love and Official marriages of convenience

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly i do not know how this ended up quite the way it did [or how long it did?] 
> 
> Day 2 for Sana's Fanowrimo =D   
> More Richbel coming next time too. 
> 
> basic setting is very much the same as the last one, but any differences have been explained in the start? i hope? whether or not this is related to the previous one is 100% up to you.   
> [the next one isn't]

Although Richard probably could have just made a royal decree and demanded that it was fine that he become official wed to Asbel, there were far too many hoops and things to jump through, it wasn’t illegal if both or at least one of them had been of lower status, but with the need for both of them to bare heirs it too problematic. Even if they both had heirs, rivals could potentially use their relationship to wedge their own way into a seat of power. In the end Richard hadn’t made it official, however he had re-given his ring to Asbel, as means of a proposal this time, which was official enough to them at least. 

Richard had a sort of mistress, although it could be reasoned Asbel was the mistress, but Richard’s official wife, shared his ideas, but wasn’t interested in Richard as a man, so the pair agreed to a marriage of benefits. 

Cheria was expecting now which still left mixed feelings in Richard’s heart, despite how long this strange relationship between the four of them had been going on. Asbel would obviously still be raising his child, but now Asbel wouldn’t have to keep up his relationship to the extent they had been. Richard was however still faced with the fact he had his own duty to uphold, although he wasn’t sure he could. Although of course there was no choice, he tried to think of it as not being unfaithful to Asbel, as the reverse situation had already happened, however he hated the idea of doing it while Asbel was away, but it was unimaginable to do it while he was here, leaving him with a moral dilemma that wasn’t really that much of an issue. It was something they both understood would happen, and they’d even planned their future together beyond this event. 

The anniversary of when the pair had said their vows was fast approaching, so both were hurrying round making preparations for it. Richard had been planning for a while, he thought he could make the anniversary a public holiday; he was working on the paperwork and the explanation he’d give for it. 

Asbel came along with Hubert on his business trip to Barona, as usual Asbel was hurried off into a backroom where he would have to wait for Richard to be finished with his work before they could spend time together, Cheria was now staying in Barona for the time being, originally she was going to stay in Lhant with Lady Kerri but Richard had a room made up for her, and she spent most of her time doing bits and pieces for the knights of Barona, although she was able to do less and less, Sophie stayed with her. 

Asbel decided to visit Cheria and Sophie while he was waiting. “Oh Asbel, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be working…” Cheria stated.

“I’ve been working for weeks to clear my schedule like I always do this time of year.” Asbel replied a little confused. 

“Yes I suppose… You two really are quite strange…” Cheria mumbled to herself. 

“Cheria? Why are Asbel and Richard strange?” Sophie asked hearing Cheria’s mumblings.

“Ah! Sophie you weren’t supposed to hear that.” Cheria replied. 

“Sophie’s right, what do you mean Cheria?” Asbel asked, ready to get angry at her although he scolded himself silently for thinking he’d yell at her. 

“It’s just… Your anniversary… When we all had that pretend wedding and you said your vows, it was a lovely thing. Almost as good as ours, but I suppose ours would be better with all the planning Lady Kerri put into it…” Cheria started. 

“Yes what about it? It’s tomorrow.” Asbel stated. Cheria blinked. 

“Oh my…” Cheria started. 

“What’s wrong?” Asbel.

“Asbel, its next week. I should know, I planned most of it with Sophie, because we wanted it to be special. So you mean to tell me, somehow you both forgot the date?” Cheria asked with a heavy sigh. 

“Uh… Um… Yes…?” Asbel replied. He couldn’t believe somehow he’d gotten the date wrong, how long had they been doing this wrong for? 

Meanwhile a similar situation was evolving in the throne room. 

“I must say I’m surprised the pair of you are rushing all this work to take a break now, I would have thought you’d take it next week.” Hubert commented. 

“Why would I take it next week? The anniversary is tomorrow, I have so much to get done for it. It somehow snuck up on me, or perhaps I just had more work this year, plus with Cheria here it’s been busier than usual.” Richard replied. 

“Please tell me you’re joking.” Hubert stated. 

“About what? Why would I joke?” Richard asked confused. 

“King Richard… If you are talking about the anniversary of the carefully planned out ceremony that Cheria and Sophie worked extremely hard on, I think you’ll find the anniversary is next week.” Hubert replied with a frustrated sigh adjusting his glasses, “I expect this sort of thing from my brother, but for both of you to forget…” 

Richard rubbed his forehead, “How on earth did that happen. I suppose I should change that holiday proposal then. Although at least this means I’ll just have to have Asbel over again next week.” 

“You’re making your unofficial marriage an official holiday?” Hubert asked incredulously.

“That was it’ll be easier to meet up. Besides most royal weddings become a holiday so while it’ll have another name, I don’t see why I shouldn’t make ours a holiday, as unofficial as it is. It is still official to us.” Richard explained. 

“I suppose you’re right, it’s hard to be against that since we’ve all already accepted the marriage itself.” Hubert replied. “On a less joyful note, has there been any progress in what we discussed last time?”   
Richard was surprised he had gotten to the point where he’d gone to Hubert for advice about this sort of topic, however Hubert did know his way around marriages of convenience, he’d been offered several, and had finally accepted one. No one had been able to decide whether he liked his wife romantically or not, he always reasoned they had the same ideals and aims. 

“None as of yet, I suppose after carrying all that baggage all that time ago with Lambda, the idea of it feels like a betrayal, even though it’s not. It somehow was more okay with Asbel and Cheria. Perhaps because of the time I’ve spent with them, and because it was how I felt that was important at that time, so it didn’t cause as much of an issue. I’ll admit I’m still not exactly happy about it, but there are no other options in our case.” Richard explained Hubert nodded, he’d explained this already to some extent. “But because this is me doing the action, and Asbel being the one left to feel betrayed, even if he doesn’t, or won’t feel that way, it’s difficult to shake it off.” 

“I may have mentioned this before, but at this stage your only real option is to broach the topic with Asbel himself. If it’s left much longer people will grow suspicious, and your throne could be under threat.” Hubert replied Richard nodded. 

“Yes, I suppose tonight would be the best time to bring it up, especially since it’s not our anniversary.” Richard answered. 

That evening Richard and Asbel retired to Richard’s chambers. Both begin with the same topic, “Our anniversary is next week,” then breaking into some light hearted laughs before Richard sobers up and brings himself to discuss the topic he’d been avoiding. 

“Asbel… What should I do? I know I’m obligated to go through with it, especially since you did as well, and it’s not that I’m adverse to her, it’s just…” Richard started. 

“You’re just uneasy with the idea of it not being me? I suppose that was where I was lucky… Because I have Cheria. Even though our feelings don’t match up in a way that can make her happy, however it was easier to have to do it with her, than if I’d had to do it was a stranger, or someone I knew for only a short time,” Asbel replied. 

“Yes I suppose so, in a way it was the same for me, the only person other than me, who I could even start to consider you with would have been Cheria. Unfortunately I’m missing a female childhood friend whom I could have a relationship akin to yours with Cheria. The other concern is that it still feels like a betrayal even though we agreed to this years ago,” Richard explained. 

“Isn’t it more of a betrayal by not doing it? Cheria and I somehow managed to come to this arrangement, mostly because it was necessary for all of us. If you don’t do it, then we’ve gotten to a mess that we didn’t need to, and brought a child into a bizarre environment when we could have avoided that entirely. So it’s okay, you do what you have to do, and then we can continue like always. And when the baby is here, we’ll all look after them together. Like we promised.” Asbel replied. 

“Yes… That sounds good. But not tonight, tonight let’s pretend it’s our anniversary a little longer and relish in the fact we get to have another one later.” Richard said with a smile pressing a kiss to Asbel’s lips.


End file.
